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WCCO was an AM station, so, single-mike mono. I recall a pretty nice fight when I asked Master Control to disable the CBS (tube-type) Audimax during the concert. WCCO's 50 kilowatt big stick allowed for a good deal of quieting so we got away with it <g>. Regards, Mark Durenberger -----Original Message----- From: Tom Fine Sent: Monday, September 28, 2015 4:47 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] a piece of Minneapolis Symphony and Mercury Records history Hi Mark: First of, kewl story about the broadcast audio. So you set up 1-mic mono pickup, or 3-mic stereo? Also, you are spot-on about Collins. I found a photo of the one Mercury recording session in Louisville in 1950. That mixer and those early Ampex 300 machines were used there, too. And there's a front view of the mixer, showing the Collins insignia. I think that mixer was used in the first iteration of the recording van, feeding the two Fairchild machines. The Fairchilds, by the way, theoretically would print less audible scrape-flutter because the tape path was a loop around the heads with rolling guides on each side of the loop (thus less length of "string" to vibrate between the roller and heads). -- Tom Fine ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Durenberger" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Monday, September 28, 2015 3:53 PM Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] a piece of Minneapolis Symphony and Mercury Records history > ...And now that I blow up that photo it seems those are the original fader > knobs; sorry... > > > Regards, > > Mark Durenberger > > -----Original Message----- > From: Mark Durenberger > Sent: Monday, September 28, 2015 2:50 PM > To: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List > Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] a piece of Minneapolis Symphony and Mercury > Records history > > Mixer is almost certainly a Collins. But it has RCA fader knobs (known > for > better tactile feedback). > > Shortly after Tom's Dad established the miking for that room I was > fortunate > to do one of the first live MSO remote broadcasts for WCCO Radio, using > CRF's mike technique...and a mixer by RCA (OP-6/OP-7 series). > > It was a "thrill" getting up into the catwalk to hang that broadcast mike > (an Altec IIRC). > > > Regards, > > Mark Durenberger > > -----Original Message----- > From: Tom Fine > Sent: Monday, September 28, 2015 1:14 PM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: [ARSCLIST] a piece of Minneapolis Symphony and Mercury Records > history > > A long-time MLP fan tipped me off to this photo being for sale on eBay. I > jumped right on it! > https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/55748706/Minneapolis%20Tribute%20520120%20First%20MLP%20session.jpg > > this is from the very first Mercury recording session in Minneapolis, > January 19-20, 1952. Dorati > made his first recordings of Borodin's 2nd, Stravinsky's compete > "Firebird", > Berlioz "Roman > Carnival" and pieces by Ravel and Debussy. The tape machines shown are > "portable" Ampex 300's (they > still weighed about 100lbs each, whether or not in portable cases). David > Hall is using what I think > is a Gates portable mixer/mic preamp (it might be RCA or Collins). The > recordings were made with a > single Neumann U-47, and the > Gates unit probably was used to provide a gain stage after the mic and to > distribute the signal to > both tape recorders. David Hall is probably working with Dorati and the > assistant conductor to > gather approved takes he can edit together. The next time Mercury visited > Minneapolis, fall 1952, my > father had built his recording truck. > > -- Tom Fine >